ting with creature endowed with simple and loving wisdom has
stayed the hands of men who else had committed countless acts of folly
or wickedness; for in life most characters are subordinate, and it is
chance alone that determines whether the track which they are to follow
shall be that of suffering or peace. The atmosphere around Jean-Jacques
Rousseau was heavy with lamentation and treachery, delirium, deceit,
and cunning; whereas Jean Paul moved in the midst of loyalty and
nobility, the centre of peace and love. We subdue that in others which
we have learned to subdue in ourselves. Around the upright man there is
drawn a wide circle of peace, within which the arrows of evil soon
cease to fall; nor have his fellows the power to inflict moral
suffering upon him. For indeed if our tears can flow because of our
enemies' malice, it is only because we ourselves would fain make our
enemies weep. If the shafts of envy can wound and draw blood, it is
only because we ourselves have shafts that we wish to throw; if
treachery can wring a groan from us, we must be disloyal ourselves,
Only those weapons can wound the soul that it has not yet sacrificed on
the altar of Love.

76. The dramas of virtue are played on a stage whose mysteries not even
the wisest can fathom. It is only as the last word is spoken that the
curtain is raised for an instant; we know nothing of all that preceded,
of the brightness or gloom that enwrapped it. But of one thing at least
the just man may be certain; it will be in an act of charity, or
justice, that his destiny will meet him face to face. The blow must
inevitably find him prepared, in a state of grace, as the Christian
calls it; in other words, in a state of inner happiness. And that in
itself bars the door on evil destiny within us, and closes most of the
gates by which external misfortune can enter. As our conception of duty
and happiness gains in dignity, so does the sway of moral suffering
become the more restricted and purer. And is not moral suffering the
most tyrannical weapon in the armoury of destiny? Our happiness mainly
depends on the freedom that reigns within us; a freedom that widens
with every good deed, and contracts beneath acts of evil. Not
metaphorically, but literally, does Marcus Aurelius free himself each
time he discovers a new truth in indulgence, each time that he pardons,
each time he reflects. Still less of a metaphor is it to declare that
Macbeth enchains himself anew wi